Empress Theresa (book)

Empress Theresa is an indie published book written by Norman Boutin about a young girl who, after bonding with an alien force, begins to exhibit great powers. After an attempted assassination by the US president, she goes on to use those powers to resolve several world problems.

The book has been universally panned in internet reviews, and the antics of its author - including his numerous responses towards critics as well as his irrational behavior - have made him a model of "what not to do" for authors.

Background

Conflicting accounts have been given by Norman Boutin about how much time he's spent on Empress Theresa. At one point, he claimed to have "spent 19 years writing" the book, while at another time he said it was "over a twenty year period." On Facebook, he said that he began writing it in 1974. In a forum post from 2012, Norman said that 18 years ago he had "the kernel of an idea" for the book, but he "actually started writing it" three years ago. This would put the starting year of writing Empress Theresa around 2009.

Norman said the idea for the novel "came entirely out of [his] head." He's explained that the book was meant to answer the question: "What would a good girl, Catholic or something else, do with limitless power?"

Synopsis

Introduction

Norman Boutin asks the reader, "What would you do with limitless power?" He introduces the character of Theresa, who is an eighteen-year old "suddenly burdened by global responsibilities." He also attacks those literary critics who say "every character must have serious flaws," defending his treatment of Theresa by suggesting that people would have gotten mad at him for not making a "loveable, inspiring Theresa." However, Norman assures us "a girl as fine as Theresa can be found in any high school," and that this book is a "tribute to the common, decent human being who quietly builds the world but hasn't gotten enough attention lately."

Chapter 1

Theresa Sullivan introduces herself to the reader as the "cute as heck" ten-year old daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Sullivan. While home alone, and spending time on the porch overlooking the neighborhood pond, Theresa notices a red fox appear out of the woods. It draws close to her and stops. Suddenly, "a softball sized white ball" comes from the fox and right into Theresa's stomach. She panics and runs into the house, while the fox departs back into the woods.

Theresa tries to shrug off the event, but soon hears fire trucks coming into her neighborhood. She hears the firemen recording extreme heat, though they are unable to discover the source. Two days later, Theresa's mother notices some men parked outside the house. As a test, Theresa calls for Alice Pizza, which tells her they weren't wiretapping her. However, Theresa notices men following her around Barnes & Nobles, as well as McDonald's. When she returns home, she calls for Alice Pizza again, except the operator doesn't connect. Somehow, this tells Theresa she's now being wiretapped.

Theresa rents the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, after which she meets a young woman named Jan Struthers. She explains that they discovered Theresa after she gave off an extreme amount of heat, and especially after she rented 2001: A Space Odyssey. She reveals that the thing which entered her was, in fact, an alien life force the government had been tracking for some time. Jan continues to ask questions, which Theresa calls "the most important interview since Moses came down the mountain." Theresa reveals that she named the alien HAL, and that the thing doesn't talk to her. Jan asks Theresa to keep everything a secret, since revealing this would bring in other people searching for HAL, as well as a mob of reporters which will take away Theresa's private life.

Later on, Theresa discovers that she is able to throw things with target assistance provided by HAL (basically, a HUD in her eyesight). She goes over to the house of her friend Tommy, pitching a baseball with him and his father, and showing amazing accuracy and speed. Not too long after that, Theresa discovers she has super strength - she's so strong, in fact, that she is able to bend horseshoes as if they were nothing. She has her mother go to Father Richard Donoughty, her local priest. She tells him about HAL, and the agents, and Donoughty confronts Jan Struthers after seeing her in the parking lot. Donoughty promises not to tell anyone except his cardinal.

Theresa does so well in the fifth grade that she skips to the seventh grade. Jan Struthers and the other agents continue to monitor her.

Chapter 2

WIP

Chapter 3

WIP

Release

Norman finished the first draft of Empress Theresa in January of 2010, with the initial word count being 142,000 words long. In November of 2011, Norman publicly announced that he had written the story, and was looking for a literary agent.

However, Empress Theresa was published on Kindle in April of 2013, with the final draft being around 96,000 words. Although Norman intended to go to a printing house, he went to Kindle first "to protect the copyright," and because he "didn't want some hack writer stealing the basic idea to throw together some word processor travesty in a month."

The first edition of the print version was published on March 14, 2014, through Amazon's CreateSpace, and was 418 pages.

Reception

Empress Theresa received negative reviews from readers and internet critics alike. Many said that they couldn't even finish the book. The main criticisms focused on the many typos and spelling errors, the unlikable characters, Theresa's annoying personality, the focus on Theresa's body, unrealistic scenarios, and the dull, uneven pace of the narration.

See Also:

• Empress Theresa (Criticism)
• Empress Theresa (Plot Holes)

What genre is it?

There has been some confusion as to what genre of fiction Empress Theresa belongs. In some places, Norman Boutin has called it "a Young Adult novel," even saying that he was inspired to make Empress Theresa in that genre after reading The Hunger Games. However, in other places he has flatly denied this:

So is Empress Theresa a 'Young Adult' novel? Not really. Theresa doesn't deal with the problems of a teenager's life. She deals with problems that involve all humanity. It should be called an 'Old Adult' novel because old people like me having seen everything will see its meaning.

Some critics have pointed out that the book fits more in the science fiction genre, but Norman has denied this as well, saying on his website: "Science fiction talks about impossibilities such as time travel, or some future or alien world. I explain what HAL is and how he operates. While HAL's existence is highly unlikely, nobody can say he's absolutely impossible." This, however, shows Norman's ignorance of the Sci-Fi genre; the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction defines science fiction in this manner:

...the label sf normally designates a text whose story is explicitly or implicitly extrapolated from scientific or historical premises. In other words, whether or not an sf story is plausible it can at least be argued.

By Norman's own words, this would put Empress Theresa well within the range of science fiction.

Norman also seemed confused by the definition of the young adult genre. He has stated that Empress Theresa is young adult because the main character is, in essence, a literal young adult, and that To Kill a Mockingbird is young adult because it is taught in high schools. By such logic, Carrie is young adult because its characters are teenagers, and Of Mice and Men is young adult because it is taught in high school.